Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............

Joanne · 12-17-2007, 10:00 AM

We have like $0 until next month so I am trying to creatively, healthfully and heartily use up our pantry items. For tonight, I have:

ham
whole wheat pasta
frozen chopped spinach
jar of roasted red peppers

shredded cheese
flour and butter for a white sauce

Do you think this would work? Maybe a sophisticated mac-n-cheese? Or should I drop the cheese and just use white sauce?

Other ideas welcome.

allisonintx · 12-17-2007, 10:15 AM

I would save the cheese for another meal.

RealLifeMama · 12-17-2007, 10:17 AM

I think white sauce would be perfect, and that sounds really yummy, actually!!

Beauty4Ashes · 12-17-2007, 10:49 AM

Maybe a white sauce with just a tiny bit of cheese and some of the spinach w/ pasta could be good. I've never tried that with ham before, but maybe a little ham on the side? Gah, it's been a long time since I've had ham, I've forgotten what it tastes like.

rstump · 12-17-2007, 10:55 AM

I was thinking it sounds yummy but I would use the cheese and save the ham for another meal. (but I LURVE CHEESE)

mamaKristin · 12-17-2007, 11:09 AM

I do a pasta dish with frozen peas and chopped ham in a sour cream sauce. You could easily do something similar with ham, spinach, pasta and a touch of cheese. that would be yummy. toss in some garlic (even powder is fine) and salt and pepper. good to go!

ArmsOfLove · 12-17-2007, 11:10 AM

I would put it all together into a pasta salad

And that might even get you a couple of meals

Marielle · 12-17-2007, 11:13 AM

hmmm, sounds good. I'd do a white sauce with sauteed onions in the butter you use to build the roux and a healthy bit of nutmeg. Then use either the red peppers or the ham but not both. Spinach with either combo sounds good. Just toss it with the hot pasta and put the whole shebang in a casserole dish with just a touch of the cheese on top OR you can skip the cheese and mix some bread crumbs (even a slice of old bread) with butter, garlic powder and then spread that over the top. then bake.

12-17-2007, 10:00 AM	#1
Joanne Deactivated Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 8,066	Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ We have like $0 until next month so I am trying to creatively, healthfully and heartily use up our pantry items. For tonight, I have: ham whole wheat pasta frozen chopped spinach jar of roasted red peppers shredded cheese flour and butter for a white sauce Do you think this would work? Maybe a sophisticated mac-n-cheese? Or should I drop the cheese and just use white sauce? Other ideas welcome.

12-17-2007, 10:15 AM	#2
allisonintx Rose Garden Some Cal/Mag will probably fix that. Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: catching up on the laundry Posts: 41,294	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ I would save the cheese for another meal. __________________ allisonintx Wife to Stephen Mother to Elizabeth 19, Andrew 17, Abigail 14 & Evelyn 12 Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the world. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home. . . . . . . .

12-17-2007, 10:17 AM	#3
RealLifeMama Rose Garden Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 18,227	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ I think white sauce would be perfect, and that sounds really yummy, actually!! __________________ A, Mother of Dancing Diva, 21 Boy Wonder 19, Mr. Cool 15, and Ninja 13 Sunshine, 11, and 8 year old Joy

12-17-2007, 10:49 AM	#4
Beauty4Ashes Rose Garden Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 13,077	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ Maybe a white sauce with just a tiny bit of cheese and some of the spinach w/ pasta could be good. I've never tried that with ham before, but maybe a little ham on the side? Gah, it's been a long time since I've had ham, I've forgotten what it tastes like. __________________ Tammy--ISTJ wife to AbuBa(6/2001) mom to B (6/2004) D (6/2005) L 4/2008 R 9/2015 Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that they might be glorified.

12-17-2007, 10:55 AM	#5
rstump Rose Trellis Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Ormond Beach, FL Posts: 3,068	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ I was thinking it sounds yummy but I would use the cheese and save the ham for another meal. (but I LURVE CHEESE) __________________ Blessings, Renee Apple to Forrest // Romans 8:28 Crunchy Christian AP HS Traditional Foods Mama to Brittany, Madalynn, David, Ellie & Abbie Remembering our babies: 3/92 1/93 11/07

12-17-2007, 11:09 AM	#6
mamaKristin Administrator parenting better than I garden Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: just here :) Posts: 26,586	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ I do a pasta dish with frozen peas and chopped ham in a sour cream sauce. You could easily do something similar with ham, spinach, pasta and a touch of cheese. that would be yummy. toss in some garlic (even powder is fine) and salt and pepper. good to go! __________________ Married 25 years! 3 amazing children, age 19 (son), 16 (daughter), and 15 (daughter) Navigating life with 1 child dx'ed with type 1 diabetes, and another dx'ed with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, all three diagnosed as hilarious.

12-17-2007, 11:10 AM	#7
ArmsOfLove Rose Garden Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 79,607	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ I would put it all together into a pasta salad And that might even get you a couple of meals __________________ Crystal "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." Maya Angelou

12-17-2007, 11:13 AM	#8
Marielle Rose Garden Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 7,321	Re: Need "use up pantry items", budget dinner help............ hmmm, sounds good. I'd do a white sauce with sauteed onions in the butter you use to build the roux and a healthy bit of nutmeg. Then use either the red peppers or the ham but not both. Spinach with either combo sounds good. Just toss it with the hot pasta and put the whole shebang in a casserole dish with just a touch of the cheese on top OR you can skip the cheese and mix some bread crumbs (even a slice of old bread) with butter, garlic powder and then spread that over the top. then bake. __________________ Marielle esFP (yup, they're visually proportional) dyt type 3 and my type 3 smilies cook, sew, knit, crochet, repeat - my blog http://www.maricucu.blogspot.com Married to T for 13 years and watching over the herd: I 10.5 yo R 8.25 yo N 5.5 yo M 3.75 yo “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” -Mark Twain

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